AOPA Pilot Blog: Reporting Points

On Feb. 7, I did a blog post and story on AOPA member Shannon Osborne, a member of the North Jersey chapter of The Ninety-Nines, who had come up with a unique idea to help keep pilot skills sharp when bad weather limits winter flying.  She pledged to donate $5 to the AOPA Foundation’s Air Safety Institute for every course the 16 members of her Ninety-Nines chapter took in the month of February.

Eight of Osborne’s chapter’s 16 members participated in her challenge, taking five ASI safety courses.  So she flew to Frederick last week with her former flight instructor, Tim O’Neil, and presented ASI with a check for $40. “I’d like to see 100 percent chapter participation next year and make this challenge an annual thing,” she said.

Osborne would also like to see more Ninety-Nines chapters take up the challenge, or even donate to ASI. “If we can get more people talking about ASI products, more will be invested in safety,” she said.  ”It’s a focus on air safety and that’s a win-win for everyone.”

I’m a student pilot, so I decided to take up Osborne’s challenge, completing four courses: “Say It Right,” “Runway Safety,” “Airspace for Everyone,” and “Do the Right Thing: Decision Making for Pilots.” And I was happy to write a $50 check to the foundation.  For a complete list of ASI offerings, click here.

Back to prison for you! Convicted murderer Panagiotis Vlastos thought he was escaping from Greece’s Trikala Prison when a helicopter showed up in the courtyard. Instead, Vlastos found himself shot in the leg and looking at a helicopter riddled with bullet holes, reports AvWeb.

Mountain lion versus helicopter – who wins?  David Nash was hiking on California’s Stevens Trail when he found himself being stalked by a mountain lion.  Nash called 911 and the California Highway Patrol dispatched helicopter crew Monty Emery and David White, who scared the mountain lion away with a high intensity spotlight, reports Flying magazine.

We knew this wasn’t going to end well.  William Stokely of Tulsa, Okla., has been forced to hand over his Robinson R44 helicopter and is banned from flying or owning an aircraft for two years after pleading guilty to trying to change the the registration marks on his aircraft, reports Flight Global.

Can you blame him?  Pilot Ray Kelly was forced to make an emergency landing in a hay field after his Piper PA-32 experienced an “odd phenomenon,” reports WRAL-TV.  He declined a flight home, and couldn’t say when he would fly again.

Talk about show and tell!  School children at Australia’s Cape Clear Primary School got a real show during recess — an aircraft making an emergency landing on a field next door, reports the Australian.  The pilot and passenger suffered only minor injuries.

Talk about a miracle.  Three men who were flying a Vans RV-10 kit aircraft for a ski trip managed to survive an accident outside of Lake Placid, N.Y., reports NJ.com.  After the accident, the man spent 10 hours in sub-freezing temperatures until they were rescued by state forest rangers.

He just walked away, part 1.  Ricky Ford, III of Irvington, Ala., would surely win the prize for the most unusual customer to walk into Lackey’s Steak & Seafood Restaurant in Hamilton, Ohio.  Ford sat in the restaurant’s kitchen and told the owner he had just been in an aircraft accident, reports the Columbus Packet. After the police were called, it was determined that he really had been in an accident and had been declared missing.

He just walked away, part 2.  Frank Leroy Bell managed to walk away after being forced to land his twin-engine aircraft in a cemetery outside of Abilene, Texas, reports BigCountryHomePage.com.  It was reported that he ran out of fuel.

What a rescue!  A woman who nearly climbed to Piestewa Peak in Phoenix became part of a dramatic helicopter rescue, reports AZFamily.com.  The woman was injured, and weather conditions were windy, making the rescue more difficult.

It was the accident that wasn’t.  A group of golfers in Ulverston, England, reported what they thought was an aircraft accident in the sea off the Furness Coast, reports the North-West Evening Mail.  It turns out the light aircraft was only a microlight on a training mission.

Who knew? As Pope Benedict XVI begins the first day of his retirement, the Catholic News Agency came up with some interesting facts about the pontiff, including that the 86-year-old has a helicopter pilot certificate and has flown the papal copter to his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome.

It was a story that ended well.  Aimee Turner and her seven-month-old son Benji had the chance to thank Rick Harvey, a Sunshine Coast AGL helicopter rescue crewman, for saving them from their rooftop during floods in Bundaberg, Australia, reports the Sunshine Coast Daily.  It was only the second time Harvey had been reunited with people he had rescued.

What is WRONG with people? Two pilots found themselves facing a laser light in their cockpit as they were on final approach to Scotland’s Aberdeen Airport, reports STV News.  Local police are now investigating the incident.

Another helicopter rescue.  The Belfast Coast Guard rescued a man whose kayak capsized off Scotland’s Ayrshire coast, reports the Guide and Gazette.

This is a park I want to visit. The city of Greenville, S.C., has taken delivery of a Boeing 737 fuselage that will become part of a community aviation park, reports WYFF-TV.  The project has become a labor of love for the city, including Greenville Downtown Airport, GE Capital Aviation Services, Aircraft Demolition, Paragon Building Systems, the Greenville Jet Center and Greenville Technical College’s Aircraft Maintenance Technology.

I’m not sure videotaping should have been the priority here.  The amazing thing about the emergency landing of a Cessna 175 in a field in Cache County, Utah, was not that all five aboard were not injured. The amazing thing was that passenger Jonathan Fielding videotaped the whole thing on his cell phone, reports KUTV-TV.

Build an airplane — and an air strip.  Friends Patrick Tippman and Patrick Borton are about half way to building a Zenith STOL CH 750 kit plane, reports the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.  But their work isn’t done when the aircraft is complete. They will then build a 1,700-foot grass runway at Tippman’s back yard to fly the airplane.

What did that crop duster ever do to you? Stephen Paul Riley, owner of the Flying Lead Ranch in Texas, has pleaded guilty to shooting at a cropduster that flew over his property back in 2008, reports Flying magazine.  He apparently was unhappy that Keeter Aerial Spraying was passing over his property and had warned he would shoot any aircraft flying over his ranch.

Not a good target.  A Coast Guard HC-130H Hercules practicing approaches into Hawaii’s Kahului Airport was forced to return to Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point after someone pointed a green laser into the cockpit, reports the Maui News. No one was injured in the incident, which is being investigated.

Some people just know how to fly. Old Dominion University football coach Bobby Wilder was able to do recruiting trips from Tampa, Fla., to Rochester, N.Y., because Stephen Ballard, owner of a Virginia Beach construction company, loaned his private aircraft for the effort, reports HamptonRoads.com.  The coach credits having use of a private airplane for his successful recruiting class.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing AOPA member Shannon Osborne, a member of the North Jersey chapter of The Ninety-Nines, who has come up with a unique idea to help keep your pilot skills sharp while bad weather limits winter flying.

Shannon has pledged to donate $5 to AOPA’s Air Safety Institute for every course the 16 members of her Ninety-Nines chapter take in the month of February.  In my story, Osborne emphasized that she is a firm believer in AOPA’s safety products.

“I survived an accident where unfortunately, the other pilot didn’t. The skills I learn in these courses can save lives,” she said. “Whenever I get into a situation, I hear the voice of my flight instructor, Tim O’Neil, saying ‘fly the plane.’ You hear these things as a student, and if you keep refreshing that, you can save your life and others.”

Although I’m not a member of her chapter, I was inspired, so I’m going to take up her challenge.  As a student pilot, there many ASI interactive courses, safety quizzes, webinars and safety seminars I can take.  The courses are free and you don’t have to be an AOPA member to take them.  My flight instructor recommended I take “Say It Right,” “Runway Safety,” “Airspace for Everyone,” and “Do the Right Thing: Decision Making for Pilots.”

Since it’s just me, I’ll double my pledge to $10 a course. But I’m encouraging my fellow student pilots to do the same, with an amount of your choosing.  Osborne said that nickels add up to dimes. “If we get a lot of people out there doing this challenge, the money will add up.”

I’ll let you know what courses I took and my total donation at the end of the month.

Another miracle on the Hudson.  A man aboard a Piper Cherokee Six that ditched in New York’s Hudson River called his wife before calling 911 for help, reports AOPA Online.  Christopher Smidt and flight instructor Deniece De Priester were rescued by a boat operated by Yonkers police officers.

Daring helicopter rescue, part one!  Australia’s RACQ Capricorn Helicopter Rescue is being credited with saving the life of a 14-month-old child and two women from a truck that had been swept up in flood waters, reports the Observer.  It took three tries to rescue the trio.

Daring helicopter rescue, part two! Australia’s AGL Action Rescue Helicopter saved an elderly couple whose home had been flooded, reports the Observer.  The couple was seen clinging to the side of a log.

Do the crime, do the time.  Lamar Kelly will spend 41 months in a federal prison after being convicted of shooting at a Louisiana Army National Guard helicopter that was doing drug surveillance, reports SFGate.  Once he is released, he faces another three years of supervised release.

Bleeding, here – your airplane.  A romantic flight over Jacksonville, Fla., on New Year’s Eve took a bizarre turn when pilot Graham Hill realized that he had been shot, reports AvWeb. He handed over the controls to his girlfriend while he tended to his wound, and they made an emergency landing at Craig Field.

Pssst-wanna fly a U-2?  The good folks at the Jalopnik blog managed to get their hands on a declassified copy of the manual to fly the iconic U-2, made famous in 1960 after pilot Gary Powers was shot down in the aircraft while flying over the Soviet Union.

I want my airplane back!  Puerto Rican singer Noelia is accusing the Venezuelan government of “arbitrarily” seizing her private jet at Maiquetia International Airport in Caracas, reports Latino Daily News.  She accused National Institute of Civil Aviation agents of extortion in apprehending the jet and has asked Venezuela’s vice president for its safe return.

It’s a novel form of a user fee.  Indiana’s Putnam County Airport needs runway improvements and there’s not enough federal and state funding to make the repairs.  So county officials are asking local residents to help raise the $27,000 needed to make the repairs by donating $5 a foot for the 5,400 foot runway, reports Indiana Public Media.

No more private jets — for now. The Nigerian government has stopped the country’s billionaires from importing private jets and helicopters until it develops a new policy on the practice, reports the Osun Defender.  The newspaper says the Aviation Ministry has a four-month backlog of applications to import private aircraft.

Charter fight!! Rizon Air, a Qatar-based aircraft charter company is accusing flag carrier Qatar Airways of unfair competition, reports FlightGlobal. Rizon believes that Qatar Air is trying to promote its own charter company, Qatar Executive.

Washington Dulles turns runway into a parking lot.  One of the runways at Washington Dulles International Airport was closed from Thursday through Tuesday to park 300 private jets that flew in for the president’s inauguration, reports CBS DC.

It’s a runway, it’s a parking lot — two treats in one! New York’s Calverton Airport is using its runways as parking lots for cars damaged during Super Storm Sandy, reports Yahoo! News.  Insurance Auto Auctions Corp. is paying the airport, which is closed in the winter, nearly $3 million to rent its runways.

An amazing helicopter rescue–with a twist! A helicopter pilot under contract with the Canadian military was sent to the west shore of Hudson Bay to rescue two Nunavut hunters stranded on the ice.  But all three ended up being rescued by another helicopter after the original chopper landed on ice and sank, reports MSN News Canada.

Probation for airplane shooter.  Jason Allen McCay received probation after pleading guilty to firing a shotgun at an antique biplane, reports AL.com.  Under his probation, he can’t have access to guns and ammo, and may have to take anger management classes.

It’s moving day!  Officials at Wisconsin’s Wittman Regional Airport recently completed an operation to relocate two snowy owls that had made the facility their new home, reports the airport’s blog.  Gene Jacobs of Raptor Services  used a lure and remote-controlled net to capture the owls, and they were relocated far away from the airport.

Someone should have said something. General Aviation News reports on a pilot flying a Piper Cherokee who landed on a runway in Platinum, Alaska, that had been closed for two years. The pilot said he activated the runway lights but didn’t see them when he landed. His passenger said she saw the lighted runway as they flew over and wondered why he was landing on the closed runway, but didn’t ask.

An expensive rescue.  Jacalyn Toth Brown, who survived a 2008 aircraft accident in Eagleswood Township, N.J., was awarded a $125,000 settlement by the state, reports NJ.com. Brown said state police forced her to wait hours for medical care when they didn’t start a search-and-rescue mission for her immediately after the accident was reported.

One heck of a landing, part one!  A 21-year-old student pilot made the landing of a lifetime after one of the wheels fell off his Piper Cherokee right after he took off at Australia’s Mangalore Airport, reports the Herald Sun.  He flew solo for five hours to burn off fuel, then was talked down by his flight instructor.  Check out the YouTube video here.

One heck of a landing, part two!  A pilot made what was called a “perfect” landing in the middle of traffic on Interstate 40 in Memphis, Tenn., reports WREG-TV.  Pilot Trevor Prather said his Cessna 172 experienced engine trouble, so he let ATC know about his emergency and landed his 172 between an 18-wheeler and a car.

That’s one way to avoid an aircraft repossession!  Argentina President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has decided to charter a private jet on her next official trip in order to keep the official presidential aircraft from being impounded by “vulture funds,” reports the Buenos Aires Herald.